Our Academics Director

The daughter of public school educators, I began my own career teaching junior high English in a small town in northern Minnesota. Two years later, responding to a desire not just to see the world but to understand it, I took a leave of absence to teach English in Japan, where I discovered the world of international schools and never looked back. Over the past 40 years, I have taught, coached or directed everything from 5th grade drama to 11th grade AP English, Japanese culture, global issues, student council, and journalism.

In more recent years, I have led learning communities as diverse as a 150-year- old boarding school in the Himalayas to a start-up school in the desert in Egypt and, most recently, a sprawling suburban school in India with an enrollment of over 3000 students.

I am grateful that my earliest mentors have worked from a servant leader model, leading from within, and that my communities have reflected diversity as well as a connection to the core values of the cultures within which they were embedded and enriched. I believe in international education because of the critical need to ensure that young people experience diversity not as an abstract concept but through purposeful interaction with people who mirror the world at its best—a global village working together to redefine and model authentic community. If we are merely bombarded by news of the world too distant or frightening for us to comprehend, we will be alienated; if we can embrace the world by connecting with real people and creating community together, we can redeem the best of ourselves in the process.

After four decades working “overseas,” it is a joy to return to my roots, to a small town in the Midwest in a school community that reflects the values that have been the themes of my career: ethnic diversity centered in the shared practice of self-development, consciously cultivating respect for equity, sustainability, and peace-making, ensuring that academic achievement will be channeled into service for humanity.

I can say without hesitation that the faculty at Maharishi School is unrivaled in my experience, including those who work full-time at the school supplemented by experts who support us from professional and university circles. We have working artists, entrepreneurs, financial managers, engineers, botanists and professional writers, for example, designing courses based on best practices in their industries—and the passion they exude as they teach is palpable and contagious.

These teachers and I will support, challenge, and inspire your child in their academic success and their awareness of themselves and the world.

– Kaye Jacob
kjacob@maharishischool.org